


Intrigue

by tastewithouttalent



Category: DOUBLE DECKER! ダグ&キリル | Double Decker! Doug & Kirill (Anime)
Genre: First Kiss, Inline with canon, M/M, No Plot/Plotless, Partnership, Strategy & Tactics
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-11-03
Updated: 2019-11-03
Packaged: 2021-01-04 14:18:16
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,526
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21199055
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/tastewithouttalent/pseuds/tastewithouttalent
Summary: "Kirill’s eyes go wider, his expression softens, and for a moment as Cooper is talking Doug and Kirill look at each other with as much intensity as if they’re replaying the whole of the plan between them in the span of a few heartbeats." Doug takes advantage of an opportune moment to claim what he wants.





	Intrigue

“So.” Kirill blinks, looking like he’s struggling to make sense of what Doug is saying. “You’re  _ not _ going to take the Anthem?”

“No,” Doug says. “A 30% chance of death? That’s crazy odds, even for taking a risk.” He shakes his head. “No, we’re going to do this the right way. With a plan.”

Doug would swear he can see the light come on behind Kirill’s eyes to illuminate them to sparkling brilliance. “_Oh!_” he breathes. “What is it?”

“First,” Doug says. “You need to look more defeated.” Kirill frowns and Doug grimaces. “More.” Kirill creases his brows together and tightens his mouth into a deliberate pout. Doug considers him. “Maybe I  _ will _ take the Anthem after all…” Kirill’s eyes go wide, the threat of tears that had briefly eased returns in full force, and Doug nods and lifts a hand to give him a thumbs-up. “There. Like that.”

“But you’re not,” Kirill says, and reaches out to grab at Doug’s sleeve. “You’re not actually going to take it, right Doug?”

“No,” Doug says. “We need to make Cooper think he’s won. Then he’ll take you and his assumed hostage away and we can move on to the next step of the plan. That’s where the acting comes in.” He pauses pointedly. After a moment Kirill blinks realization and pulls his expression into the look of hopeless defeat he had a moment ago. Doug nods. “That’s when you’ll take a shot at him with the antidote.”

“Oh!” Kirill says, illuminating again. “Perfect! He won’t see that coming!”

“He will,” Doug says, flatly. “He’ll definitely catch you. But he won’t expect his hostage to have a vial too.”

Kirill frowns. “Why can’t I be the one to stick him with the antidote?”

Doug sighs. “Because it’s not really an antidote,” he says, and holds the vial up between them. “There’s nothing in this but adrenaline. There’s no way we’d have time to manufacture something like that in the time we’ve had. Aren’t you supposed to be a scientific genius or something?”

Kirill grimaces at him. “I’m not a doctor,” he says. “So we give him a shot of adrenaline.”

“A shot of adrenaline he thinks is the antidote,” Doug says. “He’ll think he’s losing his powers. And when someone like that loses their advantage--” He pauses. And pauses. And pauses for another moment. Finally, just as he lifts his hand to start to tap against his forehead, Kirill’s eyes open wide with realization.

“_Oh_,” he says again. “And then--”

“There’s no time,” Doug says, cutting him off before he can put words to the last step of the plan. “You know what you need to do from here. You’ll have to trust me for the rest of it.”

Kirill catches his lip in his teeth and ducks his head into a nod. “Yeah,” he says, his voice trembling a little in the back of his throat. “Okay.” He ducks his head forward. His hair falls around his face to hide his eyes for a breath; then he lifts his chin again to frown at Doug in front of him. “It’s not a real hostage, right?”

Doug nods at once. “Yeah, it’s all a lie. Deana will deliberately get caught as a decoy.”

“So that’s the plan,” Kirill says, his face brightening with whatever scene he’s envisioning in his head. “Deana’s perfect for it!”

Doug sets his lips together to keep from laughing; luckily he only has to restrain himself for a very few seconds before there’s the sound of the door grating open to announce the arrival of the man they’ve been planning for. Doug leans himself back against the support behind their shoulders, pressing hard to brace himself in place; next to him Kirill does the same, tipping in so his shoulder is pressing against the metal as he crouches down next to Doug alongside him. Doug looks up to meet Kirill’s gaze as the sound of the door opening rattles through the space. He nods and Kirill ducks his head in response; then there’s the sound of Cooper’s voice, booming loud as he speaks with volume enough to resonate through the whole of the space.

“Come out, Kirill,” he shouts.

Kirill lifts his head, turning in instinctive answer to the command on Cooper’s voice, but he doesn’t move to stand the way he once would have. He looks back to Doug instead, seeking out the instruction of the other’s judgment, and Doug is waiting for him, gazing full at Kirill’s face without blinking away as he would in any other situation. Kirill’s eyes go wider, his expression softens, and for a moment as Cooper is talking Doug and Kirill look at each other with as much intensity as if they’re replaying the whole of the plan between them in the span of a few heartbeats. Kirill’s eyes are bright with focus, his mouth trembling but his lips pressed tightly enough for him to pretend they’re not, and for a moment Doug just looks at him, feeling the danger of even their deliberately complex plan hanging over them like a weight. Kirill had balked at the original Anthem suggestion, just as Doug had, but even as it is, Doug doesn’t know that their final scheme increases the odds of survival that much for either of them. They could both die here, together or one leaving the other to continue on alone as Max has done; and as Cooper goes on speaking Doug lifts his hand out to grip at the back of Kirill’s neck, and pulls the other in so he can crush his mouth hard against the quiver of strain Kirill is trying so desperately to fight back.

Kirill’s lips soften immediately to the force of Doug’s mouth against him. Doug can feel the surrender as soon as his fingers set at the back of Kirill’s neck, can sense the pliant give of Kirill’s balance tipping in for the pull of his hand even before he turns his head to press his lips flush against Kirill’s own. Kirill’s lashes dip, his head cants to the side, and for a moment the plan and the danger and the world around them all give way to the vital attention Doug has to pay to the feel of Kirill’s lips melding soft to the shape of his own. Doug takes a heartbeat to linger there, a second to savor the heat of Kirill’s mouth and the sweet of Kirill’s lips against his own, and then he pulls back to return them both to the reality of the moment.

It takes a minute for Kirill to open his eyes. Even when he does he only manages it halfway, and his gaze is so hazy that Doug has to tighten his grip against the back of the other’s neck to bring some measure of focus back into Kirill’s face. Cooper is still lecturing from his position on the ledge over them but Doug doesn’t look up to watch him; he digs his thumb in to brace against the side of Kirill’s neck and shakes, just briefly, to bring the other’s attention back into focus on his eyes. Kirill blinks, and shakes his head, and closes his mouth, and Doug meets his slow-clearing gaze with the full force of his own.

“Trust me,” he says, low and hard with sincerity so Kirill’s gaze clears a little more. “I’m counting on you, Kirill.” Kirill’s eyes widen fractionally, his mouth softens back on the start of shock; and then there’s a voice from the ledge, and Doug can see Kirill’s attention dragged forcibly away from the moment and up to where Cooper is standing, and who he is standing with. Doug lets Kirill go as the other jerks to his feet to stand and shout a response back to the man they have come here to take down, ducking his head to turn away so Kirill won’t see the amusement on his face as the truth of the plan comes clear. To his credit Kirill only has a moment of panic; by the time Doug is looking back up to him his tone has levelled, his expression has cleared. There’s a crease at his forehead, and a quiver at his mouth: the same that Doug walked him through a moment before, when urging him through the process of subterfuge. Doug watches him for a minute, feeling his chest ease from the taut edge of laughter into a warmth far deeper and softer than the amusement that comes so easily when Kirill is around; and then he pushes to his feet as well, rising to stand at Kirill’s side so they can face Cooper down together.

They are working against dangerous odds, with more than one point where their whole plan could collapse in on itself for no more than a single misstep. But Doug believes in their team, and in their plan; and most of all, he believes in the two of them. He has every intention of making it out of here with Kirill at his side; and if they don’t end up heroes, well, he thinks he’d rather be partners anyway.


End file.
